Museums Insurance

Comprehensive insurance solutions for museums and cultural institutions

McGowan Program Administrators’ Museums Insurance program is designed for agents and brokers placing nonprofit and cultural organizations. The program pairs broad liability capacity with specialized wording and underwriting that addresses the common risks museums, galleries, performing arts groups, and nature centers face—event exposures, volunteer and staff-related claims, directors and officers liability, and the need for excess umbrella protection at the institutional level.

Ideal accounts and eligible classes

This program fits a wide range of nonprofit cultural entities, including:

• Aquariums
• Arboretums
• Art galleries
• Botanical gardens
• Children’s museums
• General museums and historical societies
• Natural history museums and nature centers
• Orchestras and performing arts groups
• Planetariums and theater groups

If your clients run exhibitions, educational programming, outreach events, or venues that serve the public, this program offers flexible liability and management liability solutions tailored to those operations.

Coverage highlights and advantages

Key coverages available through McGowan’s Museums Insurance program include:

• Umbrella liability: $1 million–$25 million limits to extend and enhance underlying liability programs.
• Directors & Officers (D&O): Management liability with $1 million limits and enhanced defense features.
• Employment Practices Liability (EPLI): $1 million limits covering organizations, executives, employees, and volunteers.
• Fiduciary liability: Limits available to protect boards and benefit plan fiduciaries.

Umbrella follow-form coverages can be extended to General Liability, Automobile Liability, Employee Benefits Liability, D&O, Employers Liability, and Liquor Liability where appropriate. D&O features often include defense costs outside the limits, coverage for monetary and non-monetary claims, personal injury offenses, third-party discrimination, defense for third-party contract breach claims, and publishers liability.

EPLI and volunteer exposure

Recognizing the reliance many cultural organizations place on volunteers, the program explicitly includes volunteers within EPLI protections and offers policy language suited to nonprofit governance structures.

Underwriting notes

Underwriters seek accounts with documented governance and risk management practices. Umbrella placements require a minimum underlying carrier rating of A- / VI. The program can handle a broad range of exposures but is best suited to organizations with established loss control practices, clear financial controls, and formal board oversight.

Territories and availability

McGowan’s Museums Insurance program is available nationwide in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., giving you flexibility to place accounts across the country.

Why place museum and cultural business with McGowan Program Administrators?

• Managing General Underwriter with focused underwriting for the nonprofit cultural sector.
• Access to admitted and non-admitted capacity supported by carriers meeting minimum rating standards.
• Policy features tailored to board-level and employment exposures common to museums and arts organizations.
• Responsive underwriting and placement support that helps simplify the placement process for agents and brokers.

Example account scenarios

• You have a mid-size children’s museum that needs combined EPLI and D&O coverage to protect volunteers and a growing executive team—this program can package both lines with appropriate limits.
• You represent an art gallery that hosts frequent public events and needs excess umbrella coverage for event liability—umbrella limits up to $25 million may be available depending on underlying placements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Need help placing an account? Connect with a market specialist.